Toilet tissue holding and dispensing device



June 12, 1962 A. c. SCHERMERHORN 3,038,677

TOILET TISSUE HOLDING AND DISPENSING DEvIcE Filed March 30, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.

gYdASC/IPI'HZEF/MTW June 12, 1962 A. c. SCHERMERHORN 3,038,577

TOILET TISSUE HOLDING AND DISPENSING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 50, 1959 INVENZOR. 4m .Jcflermer 0277 BY ilnited States hoe 3,038,677 TOILET TISSUE HOLDING AND DISPENSING DEVICE Asa C. Schermerhorn, Greenwich, N.Y., assignor to Stevens & Thompson Paper Company, Greenwich, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Mar. 30, 1959, Ser. No. 802,865 2 Claims. (Cl. 24255.3)

This invention has to do with improvements in toilet tissue holding and dispensing devices, having particular reference to a single spindle frame or member adapted 'removably to receive and rotatably to support at least two rolls of toilet tissues so that both are accessible for use at the same time, and the provision of such a device is a principal object of the invention.

In factories, ofiice buildings, hotels, and the like, where there are a large number of toilets at which a supply of toilet tissue must always be maintained and ready at hand, it has been the customary procedure for an employee to make frequent inspections of such supply. Where such a device is designed to hold only a single roll, he removes it and replaces it with a full roll, usually throwing away the fractional roll which has been removed, and obviously this makes for unnecessary waste. It has long been felt that it would be a distinct improvement if the problems caused by such lack of economy could be solved by a practical device that would eliminate such waste, and this has now been accomplished by means of the present invention.

Generally, therefore, it is also an object to provide such a device that is economic of manufacture, simple, yet sturdy and durable of construction, which will operate with relative freedom from wear and tear, or other mechanical difficulties; the rolls being waste proof and theft proof, and which is otherwise well suited to the purposes for which it is intended.

Specifically, another principal object of the invention is to provide such a device having means for holding a full roll of tissues, and also means for holding a fractional roll, so that, when it becomes necessary to add a fresh roll, that portion of a replaced roll which still remains may also be positioned in the device in order that it also may be used instead of wasted.

More specifically, it is an object of the invention to provide such a device having a base to be secured to a wall, and a single spindle member separably mounted with respect to said base to extend normally therefrom and adapted to penetrate and rotatably to support thereon at least two rolls of toilet tissues in substantially parallel spaced relation to rotate around axes likewise substantially normal to said base in order that both rolls may be accessible for use at the same time.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comp-rises an article of manufacture possessing the features, properties, and the relation of elements which will be exemplified in the article hereinafter described and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding or" the nature and objects of the invention reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the device illustrating two rolls of toilet tissues in dotted lines positioned thereon;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the lines 2-2 of FIG. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of a fragmentary portion of the rear of the base, partly in section, showing automatic locking means concealed therein;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of FIG. 1 on a somewhat smaller scale, showing the single spindle member in unlocked, opened coaxial position, illustrating a full roll of toilet tissues, in dotted lines, being placed thereon;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing the single spindle member in angular position and illustrating a fractional roll of toilet tissues, shown in dotted lines, being placed thereon;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view similar to FIGS. 4 and 5 showing the loaded device being automatically snapped in locked operative position; and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the automatic locking device.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, there is indicated generally at 10 such a toilet tissue holding and dispensing device comprising a base 11 the outer surface of which is formed to be substantially parallel with the wall surface upon which it is mounted and the back of which is struck out or recessed. The device is adapted to be secured to a wall surface by means of longitudinally spaced screws or the like 12 passing through slots 13 provided therein (see FIGS. 2 and 3).

A single spindle member indicated generally by the numeral 14 is provided for maintaining two rolls of toilet paper in position so that they can be used at the same time.

Preferably, the spindle member comprises a first spindle portion or section 15 which may be permanently or removably secured to one end of the base in fixed position by being screw threaded, as at 16, and passing through an opening in the base provided therefor and held in this position by means of a nut 17 located in a space 18 in the recessed portion of the base 11 so that it is held within the confines of the recess and does not extend therebeyond in order that the back of the base may abut a wall in flush position. Hinged to the other end of the spindle portion 15, by means of a hinge pin as at 19, is an intermediate spindle portion 20. At the opposite end of the intermediate spindle portion 20 is a second spindle portion 21 hinged thereto by means of a hinge pin as at 22. The second spindle portion 21 at its free end is tapered as at 23 so as to easily penetrate an uncored roll of paper and adjacent its terminating and free end is provided with an annular groove or catch arrangement 24.

As shown in FIG. 2 the spindle portions when in operative position are disposed with portions 15 and 21 parallel with each other and perpendicular to base 11 and portion 20 parallel to base 11.

The automatic lock shown in FIGS. 3 and 7, which is concealed in the recessed base, comprises a latch element 25 that is pivoted as at 26 to a plate 27 having lugs 28 with openings 29 therein whereby the same is secured to the back of the base by means of screws 30. A bent U-shape-d leaf spring 31 is disposed in abutting relation to the latch element 25 so that it urges the latch element outwardly of the base. A housing member 32 covers the bottom of the latch 25 as well as the leaf spring 31 and has bent clamping lugs 33 which secure it in position with respect to the plate 27. The top of the latch member is concealed by another plate 34 and has an offset portion 35 which brings it into abutting relation with the recessed back of the base 11 to which it is secured by means of a screw 36 passing through an opening 37. The plate 34 has two semicircular cut-out portions 38 and 38' which provide a keyhole type of opening so that the tapered end 23 of the second spindle portion 21 can penetrate the same. These openings communicate with a tapered opening 39 in the base which receives and ,3 seats the tapered portion 23 of the second spindle portion 21. The extreme end of the tapered portion 23, on the other side of the catch or annular groove 24, is rounded, as at 40, whereby the latch element momentarily is deflected against the action of the spring 31 in order that the latch element 25 may be interlockingly seated in the annular groove as the rounded portion 40 bypasses the latch element.

The second spindle portion 21 can only be unlocked from the latch element 25 manually by means of a key 41 that is permitted to pass through an opening 42 in the side of the base 11 when the key is inserted a sufficient distance to contact the latch element 25 and move it against the action of the leaf spring 31 a distance suflicient to disengage the latch from the annular groove 24.

Longitudinally of the front face of the base is a flat type of spring element 43 that is generally rectangular in configuration and which is normally held in a slot 44 in the base, and in flush position therewith, by means of a screw 45 passing therethrough and in threaded engagement with the base centrally thereof. This leaf spring element is of sufiicient length so that it will come in contact with the edge of each roll adjacent t-e base and, when this leaf spring element is tensioned by tightening the screw 45, the opposite ends thereof will be substantially flatly unged against adjacent such edges of each roll.

In operation, and in servicing such a device, assuming there is a partly used roll of toilet tissues on the first spindle 15, the service man will unlock the free end of the first spindle portion 21 by means of the key as above described. The spindle will then be opened up so that the first, second and intermediate sections are in coaxial alignment as shown in FIG. 4. The unused roll portion may then be removed and a full roll 46 passed along the spindle rotatably to motuit the roll on the first spindle portion as shown in FIG. 4. The unused roll 47 may then rotatably be mounted on the second spindle portion 21, as shown in FIG. 5. The spindle portions 15, 20 and 21 are then so arranged that the first and second portions, together with the rolls 46 and 47, are in substantially parallel spaced relation and inwardly moved toward the base until the latch element 25 interlockingly engages the annular groove or catch 24 automatically to lock the device in operative position.

It will thus be seen that the objects hereinbefore set forth may readily and efficiently be obtained and since certain changes may be made in the above article and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a toilet tissue holding and dispensing device, which comprises a base adapted to be secured to a wall, a spindle member, a first section of said spindle member mounted on said base to extend normally therefrom, a second section of said spindle member pivotally connected at one end to the free end of said first section, a third section of said spindle member pivotally connected at one end to the free end of said second section, said spindle member adapted to penetrate and rotatably to support on said first and third seactions at least two rolls of toilet tissue in substantially parallel spaced relation, whereby both rolls are accessible for use at the same time, a recessed portion of saidbase, a keyhole formed in said base adjacent said recessed portion, and locking means concealed within said recess operatively connecting said base and the free end of said third section for automatically locking said third section to said base to put said device in operative position, and for manually unlocking the same to reload said spindle member, said locking means comprising a spring-loaded latch adapted interlockingly to engage a spindle portion having a catch provided therefor, and a key for said keyhole to unlock said latch.

2. In a toilet tissue holding and dispensing device, which comprises a base adapted to be secured to a wall; a spindle member, a first section of said spindle member mounted on said base to extend normally therefrom, a second section of said spindle member pivotally connected at one end to the free end of said first section, a third section of said spindle member pivot-ally connected at one end to the free end of said second section, said spindle member adapted to penetrate and rotatably to support on said first and third sections at least two rolls of toilet tissue in substantially parallel spaced relation, whereby both rolls are accessible for use at the same time; and friction means on the face of said base adapted frictionally to cooperate with both rolls of tissue on said spindle portions to prevent free rotation of said rolls when said device is in an operative position, said friction means including a leaf spring tensioned in a manner such that opposite ends thereof are flatly urged against the adjacent edges of said rolls when said spindle is locked in roll-loaded operative position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 516,235 Spooner et 'al Mar. 13, 1894 2,518,328 Janonis Aug. 8, 1950 2,858,995 Sarro Nov. 4, 1958 

